Önder Focan quartet repertoire consists of jazz guitarist and composer Önder Focan’s compositions included in his latest album “Aubergine”, as well as other Focan compositions and jazz standards he made for this group. Ozan Musluoğlu, on double bass, has many projects and compositions. Bulut Gülen is on trombone, a highly acclaimed musician with his latest album, “Bosphorus Train”. Burak Cihangirli playing the drums is a talented and creative young artist of the last period of Turkey’s jazz scene.
Önder Focan started his music career at the age of 8 by playing the mandolin. Jazz entered the life of the musician, who started playing the guitar at the age of 15, in 1975. Having learned this music through his own efforts, Focan became a sought-after jazz guitarist, musician, composer, arranger, and songwriter. After he married Zuhal in 1986 and they opened Nardis Jazz Club in 2002 together.
In 1997, he represented the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) in an event called Guitar Night, organized by MIDEM (France) and with the participation of 11 international guitarists. He taught harmony at the Müjdat Gezen Art Center between 2001 and 2005, and he was selected as the best Western Music artist in 2000 by this institution. He taught Jazz Styles Analysis at Yıldız Technical University between 2003-2004 and Jazz Guitar lessons between 2006-2008.
Focan has been the artistic director of Nardis Jazz Club since 2002, he organizes concerts for more than 315 musicians annually and accompanies some of these musicians on stage. Benny Golson, Kurt Elling, Dianne Reeves, Al Foster, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Haynes, Tierney Sutton, Kenny Drew Jr, Roseanne Vitro, Christian Mc Bride, Roy Hargrove, Ron Carter, Roberta Gambarini and well-known local artists are just a few of these great musicians.
He managed and coordinated a project called IPMN (Istanbul – Pori Music Networking). The project aimed to support jazz education and provide the opportunity for young musicians to gain stage experience both in Istanbul and in Pori, Finland.
Focan has released 17 albums. In 1998, he achieved the honour of being the first Turkish jazz musician to release an album from Blue Note, with “Beneath The Stars”, which he recorded with famous drummer Bill Stewart and Hammond B3 musician Sam Yahel. In 2022, his album called “Aubergine / Eggplant” has been released as a vinyl record.
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Born in Germany, Ozan Musluoğlu is a Turkish bass player. He worked with jazz giants such as Marc Johnson, David Friesen, Dominique Lemerle and Robert Balzar. The musician released four albums to date with his last album “My Best Friends Are Vocalists” released in 2015 under Sony Music. In addition to a very busy gigging schedule, Ozan Musluoğlu is the full-time bass player for the TRT (Turkish National Television) Jazz Orchestra.
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Bulut Gülen started his music education at the age of 9 and studied trombone at Hacettepe Conservatory in Ankara and Istanbul State Conservatory. During his education he played the trombone in various concerts and tours at home and abroad, winning accolades and awards. Gülen completed his education at Berklee School of Music, where he studied Professional Music since 2007. Bulut Gülen completed his master’s degree at the New England Conservatory. During his time in the US, he took part in many big band and small combo recordings by playing the trombone. He was a lecturer at Hacettepe University State Conservatory Jazz Department for two years.
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Burak Cihangirli (d)
He was introduced to music at an early age thanks to his father. He received his early training at home since his father was a drum player. Following 3 years of basic training with Turgay Gülaydın, he grew an interest in jazz and joined the Bahçeşehir University’s Jazz Certification Programme. While in the programme, he had a chance to work with Cengiz Baysal, Ferit Odman, Şevket Arıcı and Sibel Köse. He was playing in several jazz clubs the next year. In the meanwhile, he recorded the first album of Eli, a 20-year-old band coming from the world music tradition. A year later, he and Barkın Yarkın recorded Barkın’s first album as a trio. He gave lectures at Koç University for almost a year and recently, released a new album, End of the Dreams.
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